DVBLink For Dreambox

Installation and configuration manual

DVBLogic

2010

Table of contents Table of contents .......................................................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 4

Installation types .......................................................................................................................................................... 4

DVBLink For Dreambox local installation ................................................................................................................. 4

DVBLink For Dreambox networked installation ....................................................................................................... 5

Preconditions ................................................................................................................................................................ 6

Dreambox configuration ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Setting up your DreamBox........................................................................................................................................ 6

Connecting DreamBox to your Windows Media Center computer ......................................................................... 6

Installation and configuration order............................................................................................................................. 7

Installation .................................................................................................................................................................... 8

DVBLink Server installation....................................................................................................................................... 8

DVBLink For Dreambox installation .......................................................................................................................... 8

Configuration ................................................................................................................................................................ 9

Add DVBLink For Dreambox instance ....................................................................................................................... 9

DVBLink For Dreambox configuration .................................................................................................................... 10

MC Guide Services configuration ........................................................................................................................... 11

(Optional) XMLTV Source configuration ................................................................................................................. 12

What is XMLTV? .................................................................................................................................................. 12

XMLTV Source configuration .............................................................................................................................. 12

XMLTV file management .................................................................................................................................... 12

Server configuration ............................................................................................................................................... 13

Server configuration: channel selection ................................................................................................................. 13

Server configuration: channel merge ..................................................................................................................... 14

Server configuration: channel settings ................................................................................................................... 15

Server configuration: EPG Sources ......................................................................................................................... 16

Windows MediaCenter Setup ..................................................................................................................................... 17

TV Setup .................................................................................................................................................................. 17

DVBLink configuration ............................................................................................................................................ 19

Channel synchronization .................................................................................................................................... 20

Recorder settings ................................................................................................................................................ 21

Software registration .................................................................................................................................................. 22

Support ....................................................................................................................................................................... 23

Introduction DVBLink for Dreambox seamlessly integrates Satellite or Cable TV channels, available from Dreambox, into

Windows Media Center, including support for MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 HD video, multichannel audio, EPG

information, teletext and subtitles. DVBLink enables all native TV control features of Windows Media Center for

these channels such as Guide listings, live TV, time shifting, one touch and timer recordings.

Combined with DVBLink Server Network Pack, DVBLink for Dreambox lets you enjoy your favorite TV channels

throughout your whole house – in Windows MediaCenter, running on network computers, on UPNP enabled

clients such as Sony PlayStation3, on nettops and laptops, running Windows 7 and on XBox 360.

Installation types

DVBLink For Dreambox local installation

If you plan to use a single PC to watch the television on, you need a local DVBLink For Dreambox installation:

In this setup DVBLink software is installed on the single computer. This computer should be connected via

network to a Dreambox. Single installation of DVBLink For Dreambox can control several Dreamboxes (also of

different types).

- Windows 7

- Windows Vista with TV Pack

- 64 and 32 bits

- DVBLink Server

- DVBLink For Dreambox

DVBLink For Dreambox networked installation

If you would like to watch television on several computers and devices in your house, you need DVBLink For

Dreambox installation in combination with DVBLink Server Network Pack:

In this setup DVBLink For Dreambox and DVBLink Server Network Pack should be installed on a server computer.

This computer is also connected to one or more Dreamboxes via network. Server computer can run any Windows

OS that is equal or higher than Windows XP with SP2. However if you also want to use server computer to watch

the television on, you need to have either Vista with TV Pack or Windows7 OS.

DVBLink Server with Network Pack can stream live TV to different network clients such as:

- Computers, barebones, nettops and laptops running Windows 7 or Vista with TV Pack. You can watch TV

on these clients in Windows MediaCenter with the help of DVBLink Network Client.

- Computers, barebones, nettops and laptops running Windows 7. You can watch live TV on these clients

using Windows MediaPlayer as a UPNP client. No extra software installation is required in this case.

- Sony PlayStation3 as UPNP client

- XBox360 either as extender or UPNP client if combined with XBMC MediaCenter

- Other hardware or software UPNP clients

DVBLink Server controls access of all clients to the installed tuners and takes care that tuner access conflicts are

resolved according to “first come first served” principle. The maximum number of streams that DVBLink Server

can serve at any moment of time is equal to the number of installed physical tuners (e.g. Dreamboxes).

- Windows XP with SP2

- WHS

- Windows Vista

- Windows 7

- 64 and 32 bits

- DVBLink Server

- DVBLink For Dreambox

- DVBLink Server Network Pack

- Windows Vista with

TV Pack

- Windows 7

- 64 and 32 bits

- DVBLink Network

Client

- Windows 7

- 64 and 32 bits

- Windows MediaPlayer 12

via UPNP

Preconditions Before installing and configuring DVBLink For Dreambox please check the following:

- If you are using Windows Vista operating system you need TV Pack to watch TV on this computer and a

special decoder DLL if you would like to watch h.264 video. You can find them here:

http://dvblogic.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=2329

- If you are running v1.x of DVBLink For Dreambox you have to uninstall it before installing this version.

Dreambox configuration

Setting up your DreamBox

Please make sure that you have set up your DreamBox before you start installation of DVBLink for DreamBox.

During DreamBox setup you have to configure satellites/cable providers, scan channels and add channels, which

you would like to make available via DVBLink, to TV bouquets.

DVBLink for DreamBox makes use of all channels from all TV bouquets of DreamBox (the actual names of

bouquets do not matter).

After you have set up and configured DreamBox put it into standby mode.

It is also strongly recommended not to control DreamBox with the remote when it is used in combination with

DVBLink. This may disturb normal DVBLink operations.

Connecting DreamBox to your Windows Media Center computer

For DVBLink for DreamBox to work correctly, computer, which runs DVBLink and Media Center, and DreamBox

should be able to communicate with each other via network. Please refer to the DreamBox manual on how to set

up its network connection.

The following things are important to set up correctly:

DreamBox should not make use of DHCP. Assign a static IP address to it.

It is strongly recommended that communication path between DreamBox and Media Center does not make

use of WiFi. Usage of network cables is strongly encouraged for a proper video quality.

Once the network communication between DreamBox and Windows Media Center computer is set up, test it by

opening browser and typing IP address of DreamBox into browser’s address bar. If communication was setup

correctly you should see web control interface of your DreamBox in browser window.

Installation and configuration order DVBLink For Dreambox installation and configuration is done in a number of steps, namely:

- Installation

o DVBLink Server install

o DVBLink For Dreambox install

- Configuration

o Configuration of DVBLink Sources

DVBLink For Dreambox configuration

MC Guide Services configuration including Windows MediaCenter TV Setup

(optional)XMLTV configuration

o Configuration of DVBLink Server

Channel selection

Channel merge

Assignment of channel numbers

Configuration of EPG sources

o Windows MediaCenter configuration

TV Setup (if not done before)

DVBLink channel synchronization

The following chapters of this manual will walk you through all these steps.

Installation

DVBLink Server installation

To install DVBLink Server start DVBLinkServer.msi installation file. Once it is started you will be presented with the

installation wizard. Follow the instructions of this wizard to install the software.

In course of installation you may be prompted by operating system whether to continue installation of unverified

drivers. Answer Yes or Continue to these questions.

Once installation is completed you will be prompted to reboot the system. Please reboot. When system is

rebooted, proceed with DVBLink For Dreambox installation.

DVBLink For Dreambox installation

To install DVBLink For Dreambox start DVBLinkForDB.msi installation executable. Once it is started you will be

presented with the installation wizard. Follow the instructions of this wizard to install the software.

Configuration At the end of DVBLink For Dreambox installation wizard will automatically launch DVBLink Server Configuration

utility. It can also be started at any time from Windows Start menu -> DVBLink -> DVBLink Server Configuration.

Add DVBLink For Dreambox instance

DVBLink Server configuration utility shows all installed DVBLink sources, including DVBLink For Dreambox, under

“Source templates” group. To actually use DVBLink For Dreambox you need to add (instantiate) one DVBLink For

Dreambox source for each Dreambox unit. To add instance of the Dreambox source, select Dreambox template

in the list on the left and press green button:

Enter name for a new instance of the Dreambox source in the dialog that comes and press Ok button. The newly

created source will appear in the list on the right side.

If you have several Dreambox units, you need to add a separate DVBLink For Dreambox instance for each of them.

DVBLink For Dreambox configuration

Select a Dreambox instance in the list on the right and press … button next to this source to start its configuration

dialog:

You need to fill in the following fields:

Enter IP address of your DreamBox into Dreambox address field

Select correct type of your DreamBox image (Dreambox image type setting)

o This option allows you to select between Enigma1 and Enigma2 based images. Please note that

Neutrino image is not supported.

Leave all other parameters as is unless you have changed them in DreamBox configuration itself.

When finished you may check connection to your Dreambox by pressing “Check Dreambox connection” button. If

DVBLink can successfully communicate with a Dreambox you will be notified by a dialog, showing number of

available channels.

MC Guide Services configuration

MC Guide Service EPG source represents all channels for which EPG information is available from Microsoft as

part of its own Guide information support. MC Guide Services source does not provide any EPG information on

itself. It only serves as a helper for quick EPG configuration inside Windows MediaCenter.

It is highly recommended that you configure MC Guide Services source and actually use it for EPG channel

mapping. It will greatly simplify your MediaCenter configuration and configuration of DVBLink network clients.

MC Guide Service has to be configured once before it can be actually used. During its configuration phase it

downloads information about available Guide services from Windows MediaCenter.

Properly configured MC Guide Services source has a green tick mark at its status field. If status is shown with a red

stop sign, press … button next to the source itself. The configuration wizard will appear, which tells you exactly

what has to be done:

You need to start Windows MediaCenter on this machine and perform TV Setup as described in Windows

MediaCenter TV Setup chapter. Once TV Setup is finished, leave MediaCenter running (important!) and press Next

button. MC Guide Services source will download its configuration data within 5-10 seconds and inform you about

it once configuration is completed. If no information is downloaded within 15-20 seconds, you may need to close

Windows MediaCenter and start it again.

Important! If you are installing DVBLink For Dreambox on the machine where there is no Windows MediaCenter –

e.g. Windows XP, Windows Vista Professional or without TV Pack, WHS – you need to configure Windows

Mediacenter on one of the network machines using DVBLink Network Client. Please refer to DVBLink Server

Network Pack installation manual for the instructions on how it has to be done.

(Optional) XMLTV Source configuration

What is XMLTV?

If for some of your channels there is no EPG information provided by Windows MediaCenter, you may consider

using alternative EPG source for them – XMLTV.

XMLTV EPG information is delivered in form of xml files. These files have internal structure, described by XMLTV

standard (http://www.xmltv.org/).

Each xmltv file consists of a channel description section and a program description section. The first one lists all

channels, present in the xml file, and their properties. The second one contains actual program for each channel.

Each xmltv channel should be uniquely identified by its channel id. For example consider the following excerpt

from xmltv file, showing structure of a channel description:

<channel id="293">

<display-name lang="eng">Travel</display-name>

</channel>

XMLTV Source configuration

To use XMLTV EPG source you need to instantiate it first. To do this select XMLTV source in the left pane (Source

templates) and press a button with green arrow.

XMLTV source will prompt you for the location on your hard drive where your XMLTV files reside.

XMLTV file management

DVBLink reads all xmltv files from XMLTV input directory on its start-up and re-reads them every hour. Program

for each channel is aggregated from all parts, found in different xmltv files.

When program needs to be updated, just copy new xmltv files to XMLTV Input directory either overwriting

existing files or putting new ones next to old ones. DVBLink can handle up to 3 months of program information.

For the efficiency reasons it is strongly advised to remove (very) old and unreferenced EPG information from xmltv

files, residing in XMLTV Input directory.

Server configuration

To do DVBLink Server configuration – channel selection, channel merge, channel numbering and mapping of EPG

sources you need to switch DVBLink Server configurator to Server Configuration mode:

Server configuration: channel selection

Channel selection is a very important step. By doing channel selection you are actually choosing the channels

that will be available to Windows MediaCenter via DVBLink Server.

Channel selection is done on “Channel Selection” tab of DVBLink Server configurator:

This tab has an overview of all available sources and their channels in the tree view on the right side. User can

select individual channels or whole tree branch, containing multiple channels, and add them to selected ones by

pressing green arrow button. Individual channels can be added also by double-clicking on them.

Selected channels are shown in the tree view on the right side of the window.

To remove a channel from the list of selected channels, highlight it in the tree on the right and press the button

with red arrow.

Server configuration: channel merge

Channel merge is a very powerful and very important concept of DVBLink Server. By merging channels from

different sources into a single logical channel user allows DVBLink Server to perform efficient tuner sharing

among all its clients.

Merged channel combines individual channels, which provide the same logical content. These individual channels

do not have to be physically identical – they may be offered by different networks (satellite, cable or terrestrial)

or by different providers.

Channel merge is done on “Channel Merge” tab of DVBLink Server configurator:

This tab has a tree view showing all selected channels. By default each selected channel will be individually

available to MediaCenter unless user merges it with another channel.

Consider the example in the picture above to understand how merge works. In this example we have 3 channels –

Nederland1, Nederland2 and Nederland3 offered by a satellite provider and 3 channels – NED1, NED2, NED3

offered by a terrestrial provider. Each pair of these channels have identical content (e.g. these are actually the

same channels) – Nederland1 and NED1, Nederland2 and NED2, Nederland3 and NED3. So for user it should not

matter whether DVBLink Server takes it from satellite or terrestrial provider when asked for one of these

channels.

The channels can be merged by dragging and dropping them on another channel or with automation techniques

like merging by channel name or by channel number.

Important! Try to merge as many channels as you can to fully exploit the sharing power of DVBLink Server.

Server configuration: channel settings

“Channel settings” tab of DVBLink Server configurator allows user to specify channel numbers for each channel

and its child lock settings:

This page shows all DVBLink channels together with their numbers. Channel number “-1” is a default value,

meaning that Windows MediaCenter will assign number to this channel automatically.

To edit channel number of a particular channel navigate to this channel and press Enter or a digit to start editing.

Press Enter to apply changes.

Channel numbers do not have to be consecutive – they may start from any number and have gaps.

Child lock feature allows user to specify which channels require entering a child lock code to be viewable. This tab

also allows specification of the lock code itself. The code should consist of 4 digits. The default value is 0000.

Server configuration: EPG Sources

Important! Perform EPG source mapping for your DVBLink channels! It will greatly simplify channel

synchronization process in Windows MediaCenter (both local and remote).

EPG Sources tab of DVBLink Server configurator helps user to assign source of EPG information to each DVBLink

channel:

This page shows list of DVBLink channels on the left and all available EPG sources and their channels on the right.

Next to the available EPG channels you may opt for getting EPG information from the stream or turn it off

completely (by selecting None in EPG Source combobox).

To assign an EPG channel to a particular DVBLink channel, select this channel in the left table and double click on

the desired EPG channel in the right table. Double click on the DVBLink channel to remove existing EPG channel

mapping.

Important! Try to map as many DVBLink channels as possible to the EPG channels of MC Guide Services source.

EPG information for these channels is provided by Microsoft itself as part of its Windows MediaCenter

functionality.

Tip! Use “Set EPG source using channel name” function when mapping EPG channels. It will intelligently compare

names of the channels to find a best match.

Windows MediaCenter Setup

TV Setup

(You can skip this part if you have already performed TV Setup to configure MC Guide Services source)

TV Setup should be performed only once when DVBLink Server is installed for the first time.

To do TV Setup start Windows MediaCenter and go to Settings -> TV -> Setup TV Signal. This starts a TV Setup

wizard. Follow the steps of the wizard to setup your TV Signal:

Select your actual Region

Enter your actual postcode

Agree to the terms of Guide services

At this point Media Center starts downloading of latest TV setup data for your region

If prompted to select which tuner you would like to setup – select Satellite! DVBLink Tuners are virtual

satellite (DVB-S) tuners:

Tuner selection: select all DVBLink Tuners. Unselect all other satellite tuners (if you have them present):

Select a satellite: Select any satellite from the list (like ABS-1 satellite, shown in the picture below). It does

not matter which satellite you select here. You will not see any channels from this particular satellite as they

will be substituted with DVBLink channels during channel synchronization procedure.

Select LNB type: select Universal LNB type

Press Next on the Satellite Summary screen

At this point MediaCenter will ask you whether you want to configure other available tuners. You may want

to configure additional tuners if you have them (those which are not controlled by DVBLink Server!).

Review the TV Signal Configuration summary and press Next

Press Finish to finish TV Signal setup

DVBLink configuration

DVBLink channel synchronization is done via DVBLink Channel Configuration MediaCenter addin. This addin is

located in

- Extras section of MediaCenter if you are running Win7

- Program library section of MediaCenter if you are running Vista

When addin is launched it presents the following screen to a user:

Channel synchronization

When Synchronize channels button is pressed, wizard starts channel synchronization. This procedure may take

some time depending on the number of channels, which have to be synchronized and speed of your computer.

When channel synchronization is finished, user will be presented with a dialog, showing DVBLink tuners for which

synchronization was done:

Recorder settings

In a multi DVBLink client environment DVBLink Server allows for one MediaCenter to be a “default recorder”.

DVBLink Server guarantees that channel change requests from this MediaCenter will succeed even at the cost of

other connected clients for your timer recordings to happen.

You can select whether this particular MediaCenter is the default recorder in the Recorder settings menu:

Press “Set as default” button to make this MediaCenter the default recorder.

Press “Reset” button to reset default recorder status.

At this point your DVBLink installation and configuration is completed and you can start

watching TV in your Windows MediaCenter. Enjoy!

Software registration DVBLink For Dreambox license can be purchased using DVBLink Server Configuration program:

Once we have received your order, we will immediately send to you an e-mail containing information how to

access our DVBLink License Portal.

To activate your copy of the DVBLink product, run DVBLink Server configurator, select Help->About menu:

Select the product in the product list and press Register button for Activation dialog to appear:

Enter your DVBLink license portal login information, that you have received in the e-mail, into the correspondent

dialog fields and press Activate button.

Please remember that registration information of DVBLink For Dreambox is locked to a specific PC, where it is

running. It might happen that after HW changes the registration information becomes invalid. If this is the case,

please contact DVBLogic at info@dvblogic.com to get a new key.

Support If you have problems to get DVBLink For Dreambox running, visit our forums at

http://dvblogic.com/phpBB3/index.php

There you will be helped by our developers to solve your problem.